NOTE: ** denotes a direct relative of mine in this text
**Osmond Barker born on the 13th of February 1852 in Wolviston, Durham, England, was Christened on the 15th of February in Billingham, Durham. He was the son of **Joseph Barker (born in Sedgfield 28.3.1809 – 11.5.1884) and **Eleanor Sharp (born in Wolviston 6.11.1814 – 31.3. 1918). (England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975, Indexing Project (Batch) Number: I03906-5, England-EASy, GS Film number: 1514526, Reference ID: p1 no5).
According to the Bessie McDougall’s tree (see above), Osmond was the 13th of 16 children born to Joseph Barker and Eleanor Sharp. The sixteen children were; Ann Elizabeth, John, Robert, John Joseph, Thomas, Eleanor, Alice Jane, Samuel, John Joseph, Alfred, Dorothy Elizabeth, Joseph William, Osmond, Mary Emma, Alice Jane and a stillborn baby.
Osmond Barker (then a 9 year old scholar) is mentioned in the 1861 England & Wales Census as living with his parents (then 52 and 46 years old) at School House, Wolviston, (near Stockton-on-Tees), Durham. His siblings Samuel (17), Alfred (13), Mary Emma (6) and Alice Jane (2) lived there then too, along with his 83 year old grandmother **Ann Sharp. (1861 England & Wales Census, Parish Wolviston, Series RG09, Page 80, Family 48, Line 17, Image 9.) Ann Sharp (born in Gleyton, or Redmarshall, Northamptonshire (according to 1841 census) is also mentioned in the 1851 census (then 74 years old), living with her husband **John Sharp (a 72 year old gardener from Huntingdonshire) and their granddaughter Ann Pilgram (8) at Massey Green Marsh Rails, Spalding, Lincolnshire, England.
A cyclostyled booklet “St. Peters [Wolviston] Centenary, 1876-1976“, mentions the presence of of a blacksmith’s forge in Wolviston in 1838, owned by **Joseph Barker, which was still there in 1989. Both Joseph Barker and his son **Osmond worked in the forge. On the site of the old smithy the Free Methodist Chapel was later erected. Osmond Barker occasionally preached there, and the pulpit was erected where his anvil had been. There is also a brief annotation mentioning the arrival of **Mr. John Sharp in the village to run the National School in 1812. His daughter, **Eleanor, married Joseph Barker who is also said to have also run the village Post Office in 1879. According to Alice “Nancie” Brown, nee McDougall, however, it was his wife Eleanor Sharp who ran it. Letters were delivered daily at 8.20 a.m. and 9.30 a.m. on Sundays, from Stockton. They were collected daily at 5.40 p.m. and 4.50 p.m. on Sundays. Osmond Barker often helped, taking letters to the Wynyard Hall, seat of the Londonderry family, which now seems to be a hotel. According to Nancie, Osmond then moved his family from Wolviston to Seaham Harbour to take up employment at the colliery there. He wanted to finish with the smithy as people wouldn’t pay their bills. The expansion of the Seaham Colliery came when new technology allowed seams to be mined under the sea, opening reserves that had been hitherto inaccessible. Osmond was the smith for the horses working underground. The colliery was owned by the family of Lord Londonderry, who are not much appreciated in the area, due to events connected with the Seaham Colliery Disaster of 1880. See https://durhamrecordsonline.com/library/seaham-colliery-disaster-of-1880/.
Exerts from the St Peter’s Centenary booklet with annotations by Alice “Nancie” Brown nee McDougall.
According to my mother **Denise Clur nee Barker, Osmond was a small man who loved his dog. I guess my short genes came from him. He was the 13th of 16 children, of whom several before him had died at a young age. His last sibling was stillborn according to the research of Bessie McDougall. His brother Samuel’s family emigrated to America.
The family of Osmond Barker is recorded in the census of 1891 as living at 52 Australia St, New Seaham, Seaham, Durham, England. It consisted of Osmond (39 years old), his wife **Elizabeth Robinson (37 years old and born in Yorkshire Baldersby), his sons **William Joseph (15 and born in Wolviston), Osmond Henry (13) and Lawrence (1) and his daughters Margaret (13), Sarah Emma (11) and Alice Mary Emma (9). (1891 England & Wales Census, Registration district Easington, Easington Family 307, Line 28, Image 59.)
Osmond Barker, then 49 years old, is also recorded in the 1901 census of England and Wales as having lived at 28 Cooke St, New Seaham, Seaham, Durham, England in a four roomed dwelling. He lived there with his wife Elizabeth (47) and 4 children (all born in New Seaham Durham); Sarah Eleanor (21), Alice Mary Emma (19), Osmond Henry (15) and Lawrence Daniel (11). Osmond ‘s occupation is listed as colliery blacksmith and horse shower, ‘surface and underground’? while that of his son Osmond Henry is listed as joiners apprentice. Sarah was mentioned as an elementary school girls teacher while Alice was an elementary school pupil teacher. (1901 England & Wales Census, line 24)
Children to Osmond Barker and Elizabeth Robinson
- **William (“Will”) Joseph Barker (31.7.1875 – 28.5.1948) married **Beatrice (“Tix”/”Trissie”) Cusens
- Margaret (“Maggie”) Hannah Barker (8.8.1877 – 23.1.1938) married Arthur Ogilvie c. 1901
- Sarah (“Sally”) Eleanor Barker (25.1.1880 – 5.11.1959) married William McDougall (Engineer)
- Alice Mary Emma Barker (7.2.1882 – c. 1969) married Ambrose Patterson
- Osmond Henry (“Harry”) Barker (12.2.1886 – 13.8.1925) married Ethel
- Lawrence Daniel Barker (26.9.1889 – 24.9.1973) married Ada Hall
William Barker and Beatrice had four children see page WILLIAM BARKER (1875-1948) AND BEATRICE EMILY JANE CUSENS
Margaret Barker and Arthur Ogilvie married in c. 1901. According to the 1901 census they lived at 2 Sibostopol Terr, Seaham Harbour, Durham, England. Margaret was then 23 and Arthur 27 years old. Arthur was a bricklayer for Sunderland Water Company.
Margaret and Arthur Ogilvie had two children Eva (8.8.1901 – 14.9.1973) and Beatrice Hannah (16.1.1904 – c.1991). According to the 1911 census (2nd April) they lived at 11 Duke Street, New Seaham, Durham, England. Margaret was then 33 years old and had been married to Arthur for 10 years. Arthur was then 37 and Eva and Beatie Hannah 9 and 7 years old. Their house had 4 rooms according to the census form shown below.
Right: as a nurse in the first world war.
While very pregnant with Eva, Maggie fell through a sash window (while cleaning it if I am correct). Eva was born with physical problems that may have been secondary to that fall. She was dependent on care throughout her life. This was a task that Beattie dedicated her life to, and as a consequence she never married. Eva did not appear to have any intellectual handicaps according to David Brown, other than having missed out on education, as was the misfortune of anyone with a disability at the time she grew up.
I was very young, maybe four or five years old, Eva and Beattie came to visit the South African family. My mother prepared a fantastic dinner with all the trimmings. She even bought caviar! Unfortunately she later dropped the glass caviar bottle on the kitchen floor during her hectic dinner preparations. So we had no caviar. Nonetheless, I remember it as a wonderful evening.
Sarah, “Sally” Barker and William McDougall had Elizabeth Eleanor, “Bessie”(26.1.1913 – August 1983, Sunderland England, Deaths, GRO Indexes, 1969 – 2007 Vol 2, pg 1526) and Alice Margaret Hannah, “Nancie” (16.7.1915 – 2003). Sally and her two children all had assistant school mistress certificates.
Alice (Nancie) McDougall married William Alastair Brown and they had three children: Elizabeth Alison (31.3.1943 – 22.8.1943) died at age of 5 months, Hilary Elizabeth (13.10.1944 – 7.2018), David William (8.5.1946 – ).
David Brown contributed significantly in the accumulation of family information and photographs mentioned in this website, as did his aunt Bessie. Bessie researched old church records and meticulously recorded the family tree. Nancie collated the research Bessie had done and labeled the family photographs so that we would know who was who. Both Bessie and Nancie wrote me letters when I was little and occasionally I received British stamps from them, which was always very exciting.
I visited David and his wife Eluned Ann Jones in October 2021. He had found me via this website! It was a fantastic visit to Abingdon-on-Thames and Oxford. Wilfried and I were treated to cordon bleu coq au vin prepared by Ann and a delicious soup made by David.
Alice Barker and Ambrose Pattison had one son Osmond John (29.9.1908- ). Osmond John married Eileen and they had three children; Michael, Andrew and Alexandra. In a letter David Brown recorded; “I adored Uncle Ambrose, he was a really wonderful man; he was a butcher and also dealt in livestock for some of his family who were farmers (on the ‘other side’), which he continued to do until he was 88; I remember seeing two of his Pattison nephews lifting him up into the cab of a cattle transporter when he was in his late 80s, on their way to a livestock market in the Blyth area of the North East; he died at the age of 89 in 1970“
Henry Barker and Ethel had one child Louvain.
Lawrence Barker and Ada had two children: Raymond Hall (4.5.1938 – 21.6.1968) and Maureen. Raymond married Lilian MacKenzie and they had three children; Rosemary (13.5.44 – ), Bevan (7.12.1948 – ), and Ian (31.10.1953 – ).
To the right: Lawrence with son Raymond
The three brothers emigrated to South Africa and they wrote home diligently every week. The family looked forward to the weekly delivery, albeit delayed by a considerable period. Sally’s grandson David Brown remembers having a conversation with a visiting South African academic at a lunch at Reading University, where he used to teach in the 1990s:
David Brown: 'I was looking at a copy of an interesting newspaper article the other day written by one of my relatives describing his experience of the siege of Jamestown'. HE: 'You don't mean Jamestown, you mean Mafeking'. David Brown: 'I mean Jamestown'. HE: 'Well in that case my grandfather was on the other side'....
The copy of the letter from my grandfather Willian Joseph Baker telling his family in England about the happenings in Jamestown on June 2nd, 1901 has been published in The Star Newspaper on 24.5.1977 and later in New Contrast. (see also a letter written by my grandfather William Edward Barker about his father and Jamestown, William Barker (1875-1948) and Beatrice Emily Jane Cusens
